the future (by leonard cohen)
give me back my broken night
my mirrored room, my secret life
it's lonely here,
there's no one left to torture
give me absolute control
over every living soul
and lie beside me, baby
that's an order
give me crack, careless sex
take the only tree that's left
and stuff it up the hole
in your culture
give me back the berlin wall
give me stalin and st. paul
i've seen the future, brother
it is murder
things are going to slide, slide in all directions
won't be nothing
nothing you can measure anymore
the blizzard, the blizzard of the world
has crossed the threshold
and it has overturned
the order of the soul
when they said repent, repent
i wonder what they meant
you don't know me from the wind
you never will, you never did
i'm the little jew
who wrote the bible
i've seen the nations rise and fall
i've heard their stories, heard them all
but love's the only engine of survival
your servant here, he has been told
to say it clear, to say it cold
it's over, it ain't going
any further
and now the wheels of heaven stop
you feel the devil's riding crop
get ready for the future
it is murder
things are going to slide
slide in all directions
won't be nothing
nothing you can measure anymore
the blizzard, the blizzard of the world
has crossed the threshold
and it has overturned
the order of the soul
when they said repent, repent
i wonder what they meant
there'll be the breaking of the ancient
western code
your private life will suddenly explode
there'll be phantoms
there'll be fires on the road
and the white man dancing
you'll see a woman
hanging upside down
her features covered by her fallen gown
and all the lousy little poets
coming round
tryin' to sound like charlie manson
and the white man dancin'
give me back the berlin wall
give me stalin and st. paul
give me christ, give me hiroshima
destroy another fetus now
we don’t like children anyhow
get ready for the future
it is murder
things are going to slide, slide in all directions
won't be nothing
nothing you can measure anymore
the blizzard, the blizzard of the world
has crossed the threshold
and it has overturned
the order of the soul
when they said repent, repent
i wonder what they meant
when they said repent, repent
i wonder what they meant
when they said repent, repent
i wonder what they meant
when they said repent, repent
what happened to your party?
i don’t mean to cause a scene
your limousine was tardy
but i noticed rather saliently
there’s something wrong with your party
you’re a lap dog for the wealthy
an insult to the truth
a corporate narcissus--
that hungry ghost in you
a con man, a killer
a racist & a coward
a sell-out, now a traitor
and the kremlin is in power
fundamentalist christians
the falwells & their flocks
they got devils elected
swallowed that
serpent talk
& their toxic family values
made a wreck of my brother
filled him with self-loathing
& shame about his given nature
though you claim to love jesus
you don’t follow his teachings
if you would ever just dial it back
maybe do some reading
oh that’s right...you don’t read
you just watch fox news
well ask your dear old preacher
all about the last beatitudes
(from the sermon on the mount)
‘blessed are those
persecuted & blamed
who suffer all kinds of evil
in righteousness’s name’
ya know the church lynched my brother...
slowly slowly
the church lynched my brother...
slowly slowly
put a noose around his neck
it tightened slowly slowly
slowly slowly...
til he turned all his rage
& those violent emotions
back upon himself
then he finally exploded
you know my mother has nightmares
and they haunt her every day
she sees him hanging, broken
wakes in horror
& then she prays
stop tormenting people
with your hatred & your gall
clannish & oppressive
birmingham sharia law
& yes i love jesus
and mohammad too
but like rob always said
christ surely bled
for the sins of followers like you
what happened to your party?
seriously what happened to your party?
it’s just a party..
a party in the USA
tell em bout it, miley...
yeah it’s a party
a big ol party
in the putin-trump USA
and toby keith can play the superbowl
kelly ann beside him
she says “the new secretary of defense, ladies & gentlemen”
& out steps hulk hogan
can you smell what they’re cooking?
that’s where it’s headed
can you smell what they’re cooking?
jesus...
autocracy
or idiocracy?
the latter for certain
thousand mile stairs
have we passed the point of ever making amends?
you crossed the line-- time & again
now the walls are coming down
you hear the sirens call
my mind is a wreck
last time I checked
the stars were beginning to fall
i’ve been out walking your thousand mile stairs....
i wandered last night, i struggled endlessly
through gardens of light, shades of lies & treachery
you were in my dream, we were back in our bed again
but when I went to touch your hair, you vanished like the wind
i’ve been out walking yr thousand mile stairs
psychopaths & sycophants
psychopaths and sycophants
from the early days on down
nero through to bannon
a chill went through the crowd
psychopaths and sycophants
you can fall in line or die
they got toadies there to warn you
turn your outrage to a sigh
psychopaths and sycophants
got no conscience, got no shame
look in their eyes, nothing remains
all your suffering’s been a game
they feed on power and control
corruptible judges and c.e.o.’s
ted bundy’s lurking down below
i hear your lies in every speech
alternative facts & idiot tweets
an unstable man with a war machine...come on
follow the blood trail that leads to your throne
all of your money suddenly gone
strangers sleeping on your front lawn
we’ll make a riot of dc
cut loose the hounds and flood all the streets
there aint gonna be no retreat...come on
yes there's violence in the wind
this time it's coming from within
all of my friends been pushed to an end
psychopaths and sycophants
psychopaths and socialites
gonna burn you people down
canebrake
there’s a canebrake loose in my house
i don’t know how he got out
i searched the hallways and all about
just waiting to hear that sound
i can’t call animal rescue
i can’t call the police
i’m all tore up on backwoods whiskey
drugs & guns all over the place
now if it comes, how will he strike me
in the throat or on the cheek?
will i hear that cold death rattle
in my bed while i sleep?
and if i rise
will i be greeted
by my loved ones
who have gone?
will i pass that monongahela?
will my soul find a home?
there’s a canebrake loose in my house
i don’t know how he got out
i’m all tore up on backwoods whiskey
and all that weed...i’m fading fast
67% (a message from charlottesville)
67 percent...
today i heard the president
say that we are to blame
for the murder of heather
struck down in hitler’s name
he sides with the nazis
we fought in world war 2
charlottesville
stood like soldiers will
some trampled under boots
still all of these
slippery people
smearing charlottesville’s name
how can you just
turn on us
with no regard for our pain?
and now all of these
republicans
say charlottesville’s to blame
what if on 9/11
our president had explained
that our dead were as guilty
as those who flew the planes?!
but now all of you
strange people
sing a different song
i guess charlottesville
can go to hell
but we’re gonna live, stay, die
c-ville strong
so from all of us
in this shattered town
& for the lives that we mourn
america
you let us down
america
come back around!
and
republicans ...
we will defend our town
charlottesville by name (by tom house)
if you can only justify your own life
tearing someone else's down
if you can't see it clear for what it is
you best just turn yourself around
cause there's going to come a time and place
you're going to have to stand and face
the shortcomings you've tried to hide
that emptiness you held inside
so long there's nothing now but hate
led you here to meet this fate
led you here to wallow in your sorrow and your shame
in charlottesville they called you out by name
do you understand the evil you've come now to embrace
that crazy pounding in your heart you finally got a taste of
the power comes in numbers anonymous and free
the poverty that passion
that blood has graced your lips your eyes your soul
and when the madness overcame, you took control
were you really ever as you always lied & tried to claim the same
after charlottesville
where they called you out by name
was a man who worshipped himself
easy lies slipped through his teeth
stood for nothing but advantage
nothing was beneath him
he was loud and he was proud
but he fell down on his knees
when the spirit stripped him naked
and answered him in kind
every wicked indiscretion
in the dark hold of his mind
let god almighty render unto him
the truth what he became
on the bloody streets of charlottesville
god called him out by name
and the past is what it was
it was a long time ago
romanticized and glorified
a fiction that won't die
god ain't black and god ain't white
looks like we could at least get that much right
and them that fight to keep that hate alive, they need to find
someone to place the blame upon for the sorry state their lives
there's a coward craves a crowd around a jackass braying loud the sound
that dirty boy he can't be found nazi heathen wild
face the camera tell them all what little you recall
the fractured ideology, the ashes left to history
the skin that you’ve got in the game
this whole world gone up in flame
after charlottesville it never was the same
after charlottesville god called us out by name
the narcissist
i am the star upon my family tree
the one that matters...you can plainly see
some say that i lack dignity
but that’s just how i roll
you don’t get a house like this by playing nice
can’t rock that throne if you sweat the price
why listen twice
to the weak advice
of one not in control
high drama follows everywhere i go
my friends are people that it pays to know
i might kiss up but i’ll piss down below
that’s just how i roll
one day you will see
see me on tv
recognized for what i am
a king among kings
a dreamer of grand schemes
a rare exalted man
this land was found by visionary men
like me they struggled to enact their plan
native fools still don’t understand
so that’s just how it goes...
in my secret life (by leonard cohen & sharon robinson)
i saw you this morning
you were moving so fast
can't seem to loosen my grip
on the past
and i miss you so much
there's no one in sight
and we're still making love
in my secret life
i smile when i'm angry
i cheat and i lie
i do what i have to do
to get by
but i know what is wrong
and i know what is right
and i'd die for the truth
in my secret life
hold on, hold on, my brother
my sister, hold on tight
i finally got my orders
i'll be marching through the morning
marching through the night
moving cross the borders
of my secret life
looked through the paper
makes you want to cry
nobody cares if the people
live or die
and the dealer wants you thinking
that it's either black or white
thank g-d it's not that simple
in my secret life
i bite my lip
i buy what i'm told
from the latest hit
to the wisdom of old
but i'm always alone
and my heart is like ice
and it's crowded and cold
in my secret life